The Praise for a ‘Caretaker’ Leader :  Gendered Press Coverage of Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès in a COVID-19 Context

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The Praise for a ‘Caretaker’ Leader

Studies on media coverage of women politicians have underlined how the media contribute to the association of the figure of the political leader with masculinity. Yet, the social construction of leadership seems to evolve towards a more ‘femininity-inclusive’ definition. Research on the ‘glass cliff’ phenomenon suggests that stereotypical feminine attributes might be expected from political leaders in a time of crisis. We investigated the gendered construction of political leadership in the press in a COVID-19 context through the case of former Belgian Prime minister Sophie Wilmès. In line with the ‘think crisis-think female’ association, our discourse analysis shows an appreciation of traditionally feminine traits, and particularly care-related qualities, in the evaluation of what a ‘good’ leader should be in pandemic times, although some characteristics traditionally associated with masculinity are still considered valuable assets in the journalistic portrayal of Wilmès’ leadership.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Clémence Deswert: Role: Clémence Deswert is a PhD candidate at the Political Science Department of the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB). Her research interests include political communication and political representation of women. Declaration of interests: I confirm that this article was not submitted to or publicised in another journal. No conflict of interest exists.

Journal

Journal ID (publisher): PLC

Title: Politics of the Low Countries

Publisher: Eleven International Publishing (The Hague )

ISSN: 2589-9929

Publication date Created: September 2021

Volume: 3

Issue: 2 , Politics in the Low Countries in COVID-19 Times

Pages: 186-204 (pp. 186-204)

Article

Publisher ID: PLC-D-21-00006

DOI: 10.5553/PLC/.000017

SO-VID: 75754336-00be-46c0-ac9d-487a3c33c28b

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The Praise for a ‘Caretaker’ Leader : Gendered Press Coverage of Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès in a COVID-19 Context

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